Colonial Navy

This was the name given to the Naval forces of The Freethinkers before they became a semi-indepedent dominion of The British Empire in 1799. The service officially became the Freethinker Navy in the spring of 1800.

Founded in 1660 with the purchase of the ex-Royal Navy Sloop Exeter, the force had grown to twelve ships by the time of the 'War Of The Mainland', where, under the command of Sir John Barham, it scored several victories against the numerically superior Spanish navy in the area. A total of twenty enemy ships were destroyed for the loss of four Colonial vessels, and the part the force played in the war is seen as vital to the eventual English victory.

In the after math of this, the service was seen as vital to protecting the coastlines and trade routes of the Mainland and the late Sevententh to the Eighteenth century saw an exponential expansion of the force. By the time of the offical name change, infact, over fifty ships, including four seventy-gun Man o' Wars, had been commissioned.